Extinction
by pikachu13
Summary: Before becoming the Cornerian Defense Council's official Star Fox Team, Fox and company work mercenary jobs on Corneria to make ends meet. When Fox is forcefully tasked with transporting someone's daughter from one planet to another, the whole situation becomes larger and more sinister than expected. OC


Hello Fanfiction world! Took a break from Transformers Fanfiction to try my hand at my other fave series. Starfox! This will be a 3-part story. The other two chapters will be uploaded if a request to do so is mentioned in reviews. Big thanks to fellow fanfiction writer iratepirate for doing the beta reading for me!

Extinction

Fox McCloud was rolling around restlessly in bed early one morning. The day of the mission was quickly approaching and he wasn't terribly fond of the duties he would have to undertake, but General Pepper had assured the client: Fox _would_ follow through, or else not get paid! Still, being the leader of a rogue team of bandits, it was his decisions that brought the money that would put food on the table for his swashbuckling crew. Kiddie jobs like "finding lost pets" and "babysitting" were below them, but when times were hard, they were the only jobs available. The thought of picking up and transporting someone's daughter when there were perfectly fine freighter services available did seem like a waste of fuel. But since General Pepper was holding the cards of the fledgling Starfox Team, they would have to do as they were told.

Fox would be alone on this mission, since his team refused to be a part of it. The abandonment made Fox sear with flame, but he would get them back, one way or another.

On the day of the transport, Fox reluctantly left his cozy dorm at the Cornerian Planetary Defense base bright and early. He was half-asleep with disheveled fur, wearing his usual torn garb, and his blaster tucked away in a sleeve. He entered the dark Arwing hangar and wobbled over to his 'lender' Arwing. Since they weren't officially hired as the Starfox Team, he didn't have a ship he could call his own yet. The minute he climbed in and closed the cockpit, he closed his eyes for a quick siesta…till the monitor lit up and a blue hologram of General Pepper's face jumped out in front of his.

"Fox! Why haven't you left yet? The client expected you 10 minutes ago!"

Fox jolted awake and quickly hit the ignition switch.

"Uhh, I'm on my way Sir! It's just dark because I'm flying through a tunnel in a really long asteroid."

General Pepper's hologram looked to the left, then turned back at him and said, "From where I'm standing, I see you are still in the hangar."

Fox sheepishly turned and looked up at the control room where Pepper had a bird's eye view of him sitting in his idling Arwing. He waved, embarrassed, as his General stood there furious, his arms crossed.

"Take off now."

Without another delay, the crafty pilot swiftly maneuvered the Arwing out the bay doors into the dusky pre-dawn sky. His maneuvers seemed to impress the agitated General, to the point where a small smile curled in his cheek.

"Lieutenant, that Fox was born to fly. It's in his blood, just like his Father. If we can get past his shortcomings, I'm sure he will become an outstanding addition to our Arwing Team."

The high-ranked cheetah manning the radar screens turned to him and said, "I agree sir, but how many more shortcomings must we be forced to put up with?"

The sector for Fox's pickup was Fortuna, the forest planet with large, living plants that moved and hulking prehistoric, yet gentle, lifeforms. The planet wasn't terribly populated, most of the settlements were small and only a few of the larger cities had spaceports, and maybe one or two skyscrapers. All the civilizations were connected by a single road – usually for the use of land vehicles – completely covered by the towering foliage. When looking up, one would think they were shrunk to the size of an ant…the gigantic round leaves of some species making it look like the underside of a clover.

Fox came in for a landing on the very edge of a busy spaceport. Most of the trade for the planet took place at the port he was in, which would explain the crowdedness.

"Man, talk about congestion!"

He touched down on a tiny piece of tarmac, right next to some crates. Luckily the Arwing wasn't a full-sized freighter, otherwise it wouldn't have fit. He jumped out, locked it up and started walking for the Visitor's Center. He needed to find out if the girl he was supposed to pick up was at the port he was currently in, or in one of the nearby smaller towns that didn't have spaceports. He was hoping she was here, it would save unnecessary travel time through the dense jungle via land vehicle. Besides, the sooner the task was done, the sooner he would get paid!

With the Visitor's center in his sights right in the middle of the spaceport, everything looked like smooth sailing until… "HEY! YOU!"

Fox turned around to see a very large, well-dressed bulldog. "You're that thieving Fox from Papetoon aren't you?"

Fox's reputation as a mercenary must have followed him there. It was Fox's dream to be a celebrity, everybody turning and acknowledging him as he walked by, but not for all the wrong reasons! He immediately ran.

"Come back here you crook!"

The bulldog was very athletic and caught him easily, by his torn garb of all things. Why didn't he think to dress more aerodynamically? The bulldog picked him up and slammed Fox's back against a nearby cargo crate.

"You better give me back what you stole before things have to get ugly!"

Fox needed a distraction, and fast! Just then, an unexpected explosion rocked the southeast end of the spaceport, causing the bulldog to release one arm to shield his face from the bright flash. Fox used this opportunity to squat down and got out of his torn garb, quickly slinking away. When the bulldog uncovered his eyes, he stood dumbfounded when he saw that he only held the ripped piece of material and growled in anger. The blast made the people of the spaceport scream and panic.

Fox felt his stomach lurch when he realized that explosion came from where he had just parked the Arwing! He ran towards it, hoping not to see it in flames. There was no doubt that Pepper would doc his pay if that happened. Or maybe even demand reimbursement for the damages. When he reached the crates, his heart sunk at the sight of the destroyed Arwing.

"Aww man! Pepper's gonna kill me."

A gun cocked behind him, causing him to freeze. His ears pointed stiffly as he waited for the hooligan to speak. Clearly they were there for him and that must have been the reason why they grounded him.

"Where's the girl?"

Fox was confused. How did they know why he was there? He played coy.

"What girl? I'm just passing through here."

The hooligan, who sounded like he was wearing a mask because his voice was slightly muffled, moved closer.

"You're a bad liar, Fox."

Fox's mind raced desperately for a solution to his currently perilous predicament. And one did come, albeit in the form of a boot that fell from the sky, right at his feet. Fox kept his body frozen, but tilted his head down at the boot. The hooligan wanted to get a better look at the item that he had heard fall, but as he leaned to the right to try and look around Fox, a swift bare foot dug its heel into the face of the masked gunman. Fox heard the thug fall and turned around to look at him, only to see the back of a figure with long flowing hair, two white fox ears with black tips nestled within that hair, an hourglass shape and a beautiful, fluffy tail, also with a black tip, protruding from a full-body suit of tight black leather and buckles standing over the thug.

Fox was mesmerized. She turned to face him; she was a young vixen with a beautiful short snout with a white stripe going down it and alluring violet eyes. She had a look of urgency in those eyes. Still, Fox said nothing.

"We need to get out of here. There's a whole squad of these guys searching the spaceport for you."

Fox snapped out of it for the sake of his bounty. The General's assigned task was at risk. If he left the planet now without picking up the girl, he wouldn't get paid. She grabbed his hand and started to run but he held her back.

"No! I can't leave yet. Not till I get what I came for!"

She raised and eyebrow and sneered.

"And just how do you plan on getting back without your ship?" The truth hit Fox hard.

"Come on, I have a plan to get off this over-vegetated rock!" They ran towards the taxi-ships that were always ready at a moment's notice. They made their way through the maze of scattered cargo crates, letting go of each other's hands seconds before the girl ran almost face first into another hooligan trooper with his gun drawn. Fox saw the trooper a moment before and purposely let go so he could sneak around behind and get the drop on him. The girl put her hands up, not knowing Fox was no longer behind her, but the trooper was expecting Fox so he did nothing. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Fox climbed a few crates, leapt and came down hard on the trooper, knocking him out cold. The vixen was surprised at his quickness, not expecting to be the one needing saving.

"Not bad, Fox."

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said as he went for the dropped gun of the downed trooper. He was about to hand it to the girl when it was shot out of his hand by a third trooper. She dove for the gun and started crawling for it but the trooper got there first. He put his foot on it and shouted:

"Freeze! Surrender Fox! If you fail to comply…"

He didn't finish talking but pointed his gun at the girl on the floor, focusing on her lower back. Fox went rigid. The thought of the girl in danger made his blood boil. The girl heard the cock of the gun and looked up to see if he was pointing it at her. Unfortunately, he was. But her purple eyes caught the attention of her captor, giving that small window of opportunity Fox needed to pull out his blaster. He shot and stunned the trooper, sending him falling to the ground. She then grabbed the gun and got to her feet. She was about to thank him when a look of urgency appeared on his face and ran towards her. It looked like he was about to hug her, since his arms were already going around her neck, but he straightened his aim, interlocked his fingers so the gun wouldn't kick hard and hurt her, and fired at the incoming trooper running towards them. She hadn't even been aware of the new intruder from behind. Still interlocked in an embrace, he pulled his head back from over her shoulder, making her get the chills a bit when his cheek fur brushed against hers. Their faces were still very close, and each was studying the other in better detail. The lashes of the purple-eyed canine drooped low, signifying an increased heartbeat. Fox didn't know exactly what to say, he probably thought it better if he didn't say anything. Nothing to stop the moment he didn't want to end.

A laser blast a few inches away from their heads indicated their moment was over, and that there was still yet another trooper left to get rid of, assuming the squad consisted of only four. They looked at each other, nodded and both ran in different directions, one going east and one going west. The trooper skidded to a stop, not sure which one to follow. The canines were quick when they came from behind and subdued the fellow, hopefully the last one.

"Fox, we need to get back to Corneria, I must pass on a message to General Pepper right away!"

He turned to her and shook his head "no".

"Not until we tie up some loose ends. We need to talk, but not here. We need to get out of sight, in case there are more of those guys." Fox stroked his chin fur. "I wonder who they are working for? I don't recognize their uniforms."

The girl looked up and checked the electronic sign showing the freighter schedules. "Look! There's a freighter headed to Corneria in 10 minutes! We have to get aboard!"

Fox matched the number on the sign with a derelict-looking freighter about 50 meters away. "That's our ride. It ain't pretty but it's our only way to Corneria!"

They hoofed it till they stood before the hulking disaster. "Let's hope she's seaworthy…well, space worthy."

There were two slightly-open storage crates sitting in the bay area, so they each crawled into one and got taken aboard, thankfully side by side so they wouldn't get separated. Little did they know the squad actually consisted of five members, not four. And as he secretly watched them, he avoided security and boarded the freighter too. They didn't know there was a fifth, but they were soon going to find out.


End file.
